The future prospect of manufacturing radioactive diamonds are being developed to replace conventional chemical batteries as well as reducing nuclear waste.
Just imagine never worrying about replacing batteries or being tethered to a wall like some wild animal on a leash, only to consume more electrical power. According to the University of Bristol’s press releases, on November 25, 2016 the folks over at Cabot Institute discovered a new way to change the world. This project was spearheaded by Professor Tom Scott. “Over the past six years our colleagues have made important discoveries, transformed our understanding of the environment, and helped save lives by improving responses to natural disasters around the world. Now we share some of the latest solutions to global-scale problems, developed by Cabot Institute researchers,” explained Professor Scott in the press release.
Since spent nuclear fuel holds valuable radioactive isotopes that could be processed into more energy a synthetic man-made diamond at the University of Bristol was created by a team of physicists and chemists, a diamond that is able to generate a small electrical current and hopefully create renewable energy.
Scott’s area of research includes Geochemistry and Metallurgy of uranium and has successfully published over 60 papers and holds three patents and is the recipient of the 2014 Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) ERA award for innovating extreme dose radiation detection system made from a synthetic gas-like man made diamond. This recent development could harvest nuclear energy as a power cell for satellites, high-altitude drones or even a Moon colony in the next 100 years.
Despite their low-power, relative to current battery technologies, the lifetime of these diamond batteries could revolutionize the powering of devices over long time periods. This man-made diamond battery could hold about 2 volts of electricity, which is equivalent to a small AA battery.
If operated continuously using conventional materials, this would run out in 24 hours. Using carbon-14 the battery would take 5,730 years to reach 50 percent power, which is about as long as human civilization has existed.
“The science is valid,” explains one Environmental Club advisor Dr. John P. Tandarich. “On the other hand, this is a pie-in-the-sky idea and this battery has not been built yet.” Together, the environmental club is implementing new ways of reducing the amount of chemicals that escape out of household dryer ventilation systems.
Researchers and the world’s top scientists still have a long way to go to solve our nuclear waste problem. The diamond battery is a good idea, but at the same time do not expect to find this product at a local hardware store. Hopefully one day scientists can further advance this battery to resolve our nuclear waste problem so that we can all breathe cleaner, healthier air in the future.